


when it rains, it pours

by cafe_au_late



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, ITS BEEN SO LONG, Polyamory, Soft af, i am tired of working on this fic lmao, marihildagardleth, some mentions of a panic attack, these polypm lesbians need to let me rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25216222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafe_au_late/pseuds/cafe_au_late
Summary: When it rains, it pours.Life is difficult for various reasons, each of them have their own storms and issues but they know that having each other is enough to weather the storm.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth/Hilda Valentine Goneril/Marianne von Edmund
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	when it rains, it pours

**Author's Note:**

> I blame writingwithmolls for this idea finding its way into my head and not letting me go???
> 
> This is a strange au of an au of like four other aus, the Fodlan Olympics writers discord went a little bit crazy after the last piece of angst that I posted. And this was one of the unfortunate results. (Check out Fodlan_Olympics on twitter)
> 
> But at last. I can let this go once its posted and work on things I'm actually supposed to be working on.
> 
> Stay safe out there!

When it rains, it pours.

Byleth stares out at the driving rain. 

The little droplets fall, plummeting to their fates. They know not what greets them at the bottom, only that they fall. 

Humans are like that, Byleth thinks. 

Humans go through life not knowing what’s coming next, only that something is coming. Something is always coming. There is always the next event, the next big thing, the world keeps spinning, regardless if the raindrop has broken on the harsh concrete below it or not.

Byleth thinks of her father. And how he too, lies broken, body scattered, ashes blowing away in the wind. His spirit is free again.

It has been a few years since he died

There's a flash of lightning in the distance, a brief flash of light blasting through the window. A clap of thunder that rattles the windows, the sound of it booms through her entire body. 

She’s alone. The silence in the moment after the thunder is deafening. She can’t stand the silence. It feels like the rolling booms of thunder is all that drives her, ever clap pushing blood through her veins, her heart too broken by grief to beat on its own.

Byleth wants to scream.

She’s so so so alone. But that’s not true. She isn’t alone.

She wants to run back to bed, back to her cocoon of safety and love and warmth but the wave of sudden sadness roots her to the spot, forcing her to ride out the incoming storm.

So instead she stares and stares and stares. 

  
  
  


When Hilda wakes up, it’s cold. Rain patters gently against the roof and the windows, making a lovely soothing sound. Hilda almost rolls over to go back to sleep in the warm embrace of her partners but there’s one less body in the mega bed that she and her partners share. Their resident space heater is missing. HIlda looks around their bedroom, aside from the four sets of clothes discarded haphazardly across the floor from last night’s activities, nothing else was amiss. No- make that three sets and a half sets. Byleth’s pants are missing. 

As she sits up, the cuddle pile around her grumbles with the motion, unwilling to leave their cozy cocoon of comfort.    
  
“Hilda?” Edelgard’s voice is still husky with sleep. She’s still curled up against Hilda’s bare legs, an arm thrown possessively over Hilda to intertwine her fingers with their other partner, a still sleeping mop of tousled sky blue hair.

Marianne’s only reaction, which is adorable, is to nuzzle deeper into Hilda’s outer thigh.

“Shh. Go back to sleep.” Hilda whispers, and smiles fondly at them and gently cards her fingers through Edelgard’s hair until she drifts back to sleep. Carefully, Hilda extricates herself from their grasp, gently coaxing them toward each other so that she could escape.

At the foot of their giant bed, lies Dorte. The giant brown dog looks up at Hilda as she carefully climbs out of bed. She pats him gently and he huffs gently, rolling back over to fall asleep. Hilda has a feeling that Byleth snuck past their teddy bear of a giant mastiff in the same fashion earlier.

Sothis is also missing. The little brown papillon is not curled up on top of Dorte like she usually is, leeching the larger dog’s warmth.

She picks up Byleth’s button down shirt from the floor, sliding it on over her shoulders as she pads gently across the plush carpet.She buttons up a few of the middle buttons- the top buttons are unfortunately missing, collateral damage from last night. If they could find the buttons, Marianne could probably make quick work of sewing them back on later. No pants, she decides though, Byleth’s shirt is long enough. But maybe underwear, it is kind of chilly. Quietly, she digs through one of the drawers and pulls on the first pair she sees.

The bathroom door is open and the lights are off, Byleth isn’t in there either.

Hilda finds Byleth downstairs, sitting at the kitchen table by herself, staring out the large windows unmovingly, there’s an open book on the table before her. She has thrown on a large oversized hoodie but that isn’t enough to hide the faint red splotches on her neck- a reminder of their passionate activities last night. Sothis is dozing on her back nearby at Byleth’s feet, paws scrabbling at the empty air in a fit of mysterious dog dreams.

“By?” Hilda asks.

Byleth nearly jumps out of her chair at the sound of Hilda’s voice. Despite being startled, Byleth still looks like she’s relieved to see Hilda.

“You doing okay?” Hilda slides a hand gently across Byleth’s tense back muscle, feeling them gradually begin to relax under her fingers.

“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep.” Byleth mumbles, there’s a spot of dampness on her face that she hastily wipes away. “So I thought I would try to get some reading done.”

There’s a tinge of something else to Byleth’s gaze but it’s quickly overtaken by the wave of exhaustion and Hilda can't help but scoop the other woman in her arms and carry her to the couch. After all this time, Hilda thinks she’s pretty good at reading Byleth’s moods. Byleth rests her head on Hilda’s chest, nosing into the crook of her neck. 

For a while they sit like that, cuddling together and listening to the rain fall while being lulled by the soft rises and falls of the other’s chest as they breathed in and out slowly. “You miss him still, huh?” Hilda says into the top of Byleth’s head.

“Yeah,” Byleth sighs. “It’s hard when I’m alone And I have you, and El, and Mari. But it still gets me sometimes.”

“And that’s okay.” Hilda plants a few kisses on the top of Byleth’s head. “We’re here if you need anything. Please don’t forget that.” She was so proud of Byleth for coming this far. In past years, Byleth would bottle everything up, trying to take on an entire world of grief by herself. It never felt like Byleth quite dealt with the grief and heartache of losing her father, instead pushing it down only for it to gust forth in a storm of emotions with vengeance the next year.

There’s a long moment of quiet, accented by the gentle sound of rain. 

“Hilda? Byleth asks quietly.

“Mhm?” Hilda mumbles, she has nearly drifted off again.

“If you’re tired, you should go back to bed.” Byleth’s voice is little more than a whisper in Hilda’s ear.

“I want to stay with you.” Hilda murmurs, voice thick with sleep. 

“Okay, I think I’m going to read for a little bit.” Byleth shifts so she can look Hilda in the eye. 

“Is it okay if I just sleep here like this while you read? I like being close to you.” Hilda kisses the crown of Byleth’s head gently again, cradling Byleth closer to her chest.

“I think I’d like that,” Byleth says, she breaks away from Hilda for a second to retrieve her book from the kitchen table. Hilda immediately mourns the loss of the feeling of Byleth’s body and warmth even for that brief moment that they are apart. But Byleth returns with a blanket in addition to her book and settles back in on Hilda’s lap, curling close again.

“Mhmm. I love you.” Byleth sighs and plants a kiss on the underside of Hilda’s jaw as she Hilda rests her cheek on the top of Byleth’s head.

“I love you too, By.” Hilda smiles. She would never get tired of hearing that. With a gentle hum of contentment, Hilda dozes off. 

The storm battering Byleth subsides to a gentle patter on the roof the hearts that Byleth calls home. The sound of soothing rain lulls both of them to sleep.

They don’t hear the smiling whispers and soft giggles, and the click of a camera goes off as Edelgard and Marianne come down the next morning, finding both Hilda and Byleth curled together on the couch. 

Marianne has a new lock screen picture.

Even in the thick of the storm, Byleth finds solace in the warm embrace and presence of three hearts. Here, she is safe. She isn’t alone. The rains taper off.

* * *

When it rains, it pours.

Hilda knows this.

She knows this but she has rarely experienced it. Maybe even  _ never _ experienced it. As the youngest child in her family, her older brother, Holst is nearly five when Hilda is born and takes the older brother role very seriously, looking after her and taking care of her of his own volition.

As a result, Hilda has been coddled and protected her entire life. Holst took care of everything for her, holding a large umbrella over her head to keep her out of the rain, making sure she stayed inside so she wouldn’t get wet and cold from the rain, and while she loves him for it, she still wished that he trusted her to do whatever she wanted and just let her feel the rain on her skin.

Hilda understands where Holst is coming from. Her brother can be a bit of an overbearing worrywart at times. So she grows up as one of those kids that is always told that the stove is hot and never gets the opportunity to find out for herself if it really is hot or not. 

She wishes she could be like the raindrops, falling freely. Free to go about their day and life. It didn’t matter that they would end up splattered on the ground or in a body of water. As long as she could fall as she pleased. They would all end up on the ground anyway. 

She wishes desperately that people would let her pick what she wanted to do instead of questioning her every whim and decision. So what if she wants strawberry flavoured toothpaste? Who cares that it was for children? Toothpaste was toothpaste.

A storm rages outside and Hilda can only stare at it, safe behind a pane of glass. The rain pelts harshly, stopped mere centimeters from her face. She aches for the feeling of the rain on her skin, wind in her face. All of the logic and common sense that has been ingrained into her over the years scream at her not to. 

But she wants to go dance in the rain. 

  
  
  


Edelgard watches Hilda from her spot on the couch. Hilda has her face pressed against the glass, her breath keeps fogging up the window, but she doesn’t care, watching the rain pour down outside. She’s been like that for the last twenty minutes, just staring at the rain.

Byleth and Hilda are busy cooking dinner nearby. Something delicious undoubtedly. 

Quietly, Edelgard sets her laptop aside. She remembers Hilda saying something about always wanting to play in the rain but never getting the chance to as a child. Now, she sits there staring out the window like a lost puppy, yearning to go outside. 

With a sigh she wanders over to Hilda and drapes herself around Hilda’s shoulders like a blanket. “Hilda?”

“El?” Hilda glances over her shoulder at her.

“Do you want to go outside?” Edelgard asks her quietly. 

“What? It’s raining outside.” 

“And?” Edelgard gives her a look of ‘what’s your point?’

“You don’t go outside when it’s raining?” Hilda replies, confused.

“Says who?” Edelgard smirks and takes Hilda’s hand dragging her over to the front door. Edelgard meets Byleth’s eyes over Hilda’s head. Byleth simply nods and smiles, waving her hands at them in a shooing motion, clearly agreeing with Edelgard’s decision.

“What are you doing, El?” Hilda questions as they slip on shoes. 

“We’re doing something that you have always wanted to do but for one reason or another have not.” Edelgard coaxes her out the front door and down the porch steps. She holds Hilda’s hands in hers loosely, not even really holding onto them, more like just providing a spot for Hilda to rest her hands on. Edelgard gives Hilda every opportunity to pull away, to retreat back into the house, her gaze never judgmental.

The splashes of rain that hit Hilda’s face are cold and they take her by surprise. She lets out a sudden shriek at the sensation. Edelgard is still holding onto her hands, smiling gently at her as they wander further down the street.

Much to Hilda’s delight, Edelgard twirls her in a quick little spin. Once, then twice when Hilda giggles- a third time is a little bit dizzying but Edelgard is right there to catch her and steady her again. 

Away they twirl, dancing through the rain, laughing and smiling all the way.

The feeling of the rain on Hilda’s skin is refreshing at first- different in a familiar way. Then as they reach the end of their street and start making their way back towards their little home, the feeling of rain is a little more cutting, brisk. It’s getting too cold now, little pinpricks bursting against Hilda’s skin.

Even so, she relishes in the feeling, still holding onto one of Edelgard’s hands. 

Hilda smiles at Edelgard. 

They return to their house, soaking wet and shivering but the warmth of their home greets them with a tender hug. Byleth is waiting for them at the door with towels and a hot bath running in their large bathroom. (There are lots of bubbles and even a rubber duck.)

They end up having dinner in the bath, convincing Marianne and Byleth to join them in the bath. It was a tight squeeze to fit all four of them into the sizable bathtub and also perhaps a poorly thought out choice in hindsight, but in the moment it was just perfect, consequences be damned. 

Sandwiched between Byleth and Marianne, sipping wine and eating freshly baked bread, Hilda finds herself happy, content. This is where she wants to be, where she chooses to be.

Hilda loves her brother and all of his protectiveness that kept her safe all of these years, but with her girlfriends, Hilda finds herself free to make her own choices and free to grow and do as she pleases. She knows that they would hold her hand through it all, supporting her and journeying through the difficulties and pouring rain alongside her, but also there with a warm home to rest in at the end of it all. 

Consequences be damned, the rain is kind of fun when she chooses to be in it, they were her choices and consequences after all.

* * *

When it rains, it pours.

Edelgard knows this fact too well.

It often feels like life tends to kick you when you are down. 

A deafening clap of thunder that shakes the entire house, rattling all the windows, jolts Edelgard from her sleep, feeling like it came right out of her night terrors and into reality, blurring all sense of what was real and what was in her head.

_ Sleep. _

She could hardly call what she has just experienced sleep. Night terrors come to her less frequently now but still in such vividness and strength that it shakes her to her very core. She’s disoriented and startled, limbs flailing, screaming. The combination of the night terrors and being awoken in such an abrupt fashion sends Edelgard scrambling across the bed to hide herself in the corner where Bearos, a large stuffed bear that Byleth has given her as a gift, lay.

“El?” there’s a bleary whisper and there’s the groaning and shuffling of other bodies moving around in the mega bed that Edelgard and her girlfriends share. Even Dorte, huffs indignantly from his corner of the bed. Sothis looks up at them for a moment before returning to sleep.

“El, honey? Are you having another night terror?” Marianne’s voice washes over Edelgard like a balm. It’s gentle, calming all of Edelgard’s frayed nerves. “Is it okay if I touch you, Edelgard?” Marianne’s hands hover a few centimeters above Edelgard, not quite sure what Edelgard would be comfortable with even after all these nights together.

Every night terror was a different monster.

Marianne knows monsters well. She tries her best to help Edelgard.

Edelgard nods, face still tucked between her knees, her breathing heavy.

Marianne’s touch grounds Edelgard. The sensation pulling her from the dark storm clouds gathering around her and rooting her back to the ground, to reality. “It’s okay, El.” Marianne whispers, drawing Edelgard into her arms and holding her close. Marianne’s heartbeat is a steady pulse under Edelgard’s ear.

Another clap of thunder has Edelgard cowering harder into Marianne, overwhelmed by all the noise and light.

“El, we’ve got you. You’re right here in our bed. We’re right here. Everything is going to be okay. It’s just a thunderstorm.” Marianne rocks her from side to side, a light swaying motion.

Hilda and Byleth join her, still blinking the sleep from their eyes. They’re careful with their approach, trying the best not to overwhelm her with the sudden addition of too much stimulation. First Byleth, gently rolling Marianne and Edelgard over together so that they are lying on their side and she can spoon Edelgard from behind. She tucks Edelgard’s head under her chin and whispers reassurances into Edelgard’s hair, her fingers tracing steady patterns along Edelgard’s arms.

Once Edelgard is comfortable and settled, Hilda joins them with the covers again. Edelgard, now a little more steady and cognizant, welcomes her presence with open arms, she holds Hilda against her as the covers fall around them like a protective outer layer and for a moment the whole world shrinks down to this little dome.

Edelgard wraps her arms around Hilda’s midsection as Byleth and Marianne reach out towards each other with a hand and find Edelgard’s hands in the middle. They intertwine their fingers with Edelgard’s, connected at as many points as possible. 

Edelgard finds comfort pressed up against her girlfriends, the weight of Hilda against her a reminder of where she was. She’s here. She’s with her girlfriends, with people who love her. And in this little dome, she feels safe in their arms.

“El?” Marianne speaks up again. “How are you feeling honey?” 

“Silly.” Edelgard mumbles, lips pressed to Hilda’s pulse point in her neck. She can hear both Marianne and Byleth’s heartbeats against her ears. Another reminder that she is still alive.

“Hey, none of that. You aren’t silly.” Edelgard can feel Hilda’s voice vibrate pleasantly through where her lips were pressed against Hilda’s neck.

“Hilda is right.” Byleth cards a hand lazily through Edelgard’s sweaty locks, “You are valid. You are Edelgard, and we don’t love you any less for having night terrors. We all have problems.”

“But the important thing is, we deal with them all together.” Marianne adds. She squeezes Edelgard a little tighter, trying to convey how much she loves her to Edelgard. 

“I really love you all,” Edelgard sniffles. She pulls back from Hilda just long enough that can look at each of her girlfriends. It’s still very dark under the covers so she really can’t see anything at all but she moves her head so that her eyes momentarily look at each of them anyway.

“We love you too El, we’ll always be right here for you. So don’t worry about things okay?” 

Edelgard nods, she huddles her girlfriends closer together and with the pulse of their heartbeats in her chest, she forgets about the storm.

The storm might take Edelgard places that she doesn’t want to be- deep into the terrors of the night, but she could always trust that there would be arms to catch her when she fell, arms to hold her and remind her of who she is and how loved she is.

* * *

  
  


When it rains, it pours.

Marianne knows the feeling of the cold pelting her skin, sharp needles of pain as the storm rages on around her. She is alone in this storm, it’s destruction laying waste to everything around her.

She can’t let anybody close to her because she knows that the storm would drive them away or even worse, hurt them. The storm is indiscriminate in its damage. All it wants is her. It isolates her in the heart of the storm where the rain never ceases and the winds always blow. Marianne feels helpless, and alone. 

And sometimes, even when the storm has passed, she can still feel the ghost of its spirit haunt her, even though she knows that the storm is somewhere else, she knows that the storm won’t bother her anymore. Sometimes she catches a glimpse of brown hair flashing around the corner, a distant clap of thunder, or hazel eyes glinting with a hint of sharp steel underneath them, or the flash of lightning and she’s right back in the thick of it again. 

There isn’t much she can do but wait for the feelings to subside, wait for the fear to pass, wait for her body to unclench itself, still braced for a storm that has long passed. Sometimes its a quick and smooth process, coasting on the roiling winds until it all blows over. Other times, Marianne feels like she’s being tossed around like a paper airplane with no control of her fate.

The storm rages on.

  
  
  


Byleth is working in her office when she hears the sound of dishes shattering on the floor and Dorte appears, seconds later, pawing at her door. Something was wrong with Marianne. Concerned, she leaves her work behind and dashes down the stairs to the kitchen, Dorte at her side, taking the stairs two steps at a time and nearly falling down the last two in her haste. 

There’s nobody in the kitchen when Byleth skids to a halt in front of the large kitchen island, her socked feet providing no grip at all. Dorte runs around the far side of the kitchen island.

“Mari?” Byleth asks. Hilda and Edelgard have gone out to pick up some groceries and won’t be back for a little while longer. There’s no response, only the telltale sound of someone gasping rapidly for air. “Mari!” Byleth hurries around the counter to find Marianne huddled on the floor, holding her head in her hands with her eyes wide, staring at Byleth. Dorte has laid over her feet, also staring at Byleth with pathetic puppy dog eyes. Marianne is in the middle of a full blown panic attack.

Byleth rushes to Marianne’s side, ignoring the bits of broken dishes on the floor next to her. “Mari? Listen to me. Can you hear me? I need you to focus on my voice. Can you do that?” Marianne nods shakily, her entire body is trembling as her body struggles to get enough air into her lungs. There are tears streaming down her face as she breathes with a strange mixture of hyperventilation, sobs and hiccups. 

“Is it okay if I touch you?” Byleth is kneeling down next to Marianne, looking her in the eyes.

Marianne nods again. The motion is nearly swallowed up by the shakiness in her body.

Byleth rubs her hands up and down Marianne’s arms like she’s trying to warm her up, hoping the sensation of her palms against her skin would help her refocus.

“Okay we’re going to try to take some deep breaths okay? Just breathe with me.” Byleth takes an exaggerated breath in, “Inhale….and exhale….” She lets out her breath in a long noisy exhale. “That’s it. Inhale... And then exhale…” They do this a few more times as Marianne tries her best to keep up with Byleth, gradually able to slow her breathing down to something more regular and deep.

“You’re okay, Mari. I’m here.” Byleth assures her as Marianne takes in a few more shuddering breaths. Byleth moves so that she can sit next to Marianne, leaning back against the kitchen drawers and wraps an arm around Marianne’s shoulders, pulling her close.

They sit there in the quiet, Byleth rubbing her back soothingly as she let’s Marianne get her bearings back at her own pace. 

They hear the door open. Edelgard and Hilda’s voices are joyful and enthusiastic as they come into the house. But upon crossing the threshold into the house, it’s like they can detect that something is wrong. “By? Mari?” Edelgard calls out as she and Hilda remove their shoes, bags rustling noisily as they are set on the floor.

Byleth sends Dorte back around the kitchen counter, away from the broken dishes so he won’t scratch himself. She doesn’t want to speak too loudly at the moment, unsure how exactly Marianne was feeling right now since she hadn’t returned to being verbal yet.

“By? Mari?” A concerned Edelgard appears around the far edge of the kitchen counter with Dorte. As soon as she sees them on the floor though, she understands immediately. 

Her eyes widen further in concern though. “By, your leg is bleeding!” 

Byleth looks down at her legs, and sure enough there’s a thin trail of red running down from her right shin and into her socks. “Oh.” She hadn’t even noticed it, perhaps kneeling on the floor in shorts with all these shards of broken dishes everywhere was not the best idea.

Hilda appears on the other side of the kitchen counter. Fortunately, she stops herself before she steps into the broken dishes. She surveys the scene with the most reassuring smile that she can muster at Marianne. “Edie? Why don’t you patch up By? I’ll sit with Marianne.” 

Edelgard holds out her hand to Byleth as Hilda slides across the top of the kitchen counter, avoiding the mess on the floor below entirely. and drops down on Marianne’s other side. Byleth lets herself by hauled up to her feet, wincing as she finally gets to her feet again and the pain sets in.

“Mari? Do you want to move to the couch? It’ll be a little bit more comfortable there? I can put on your favourite movie and we can have some snacks?” Hilda wraps herself around Marianne, whispering gently into her ear. 

Byleth finds herself settling in on the couch and Hilda carrying a still faintly trembling Marianne to join her moments later. As Hilda nears, Byleth opens her arms wide, indicating that she wanted to hold Marianne. Hilda obliges and Byleth cuddles Marianne into her lap. “Hi Mari, how are you feeling?”

“B-Better.” The sobs are receding now, leaving behind some sniffles and some faint hiccups. 

“You’re going to be okay, Mari. You’re doing really well.” Hilda flops down unceremoniously onto the couch next to them and moves Marianne’s legs into her lap. She begins to gently knead them, massaging some of the tension out of them. 

“Thanks HG,” Hilda smiles at the nickname, stemming from her initials and Marianne’s love of science fiction novels. She draws one of Marianne’s hands away from where they rest on Byleth’s shoulders, clenched into a tight fist. Instead, Hilda presses a kiss to the back of the fist. 

“We’re always going to be here for you, Mari.” Edelgard says from her spot on the ground, carefully cleaning and bandaging the few cuts on Byleth’s shin. She smiles brilliantly at Marianne. 

“We love you.” Byleth mumbles into her shoulder.

“I love you all,” Marianne sniffles.

  
  


The storm might rage, the ghost of its memory on her body, but three hearts give Marianne refuge, the gentle sounds of soft rains, lulling her to rest.

* * *

  
  


When it rains, it pours.

But that’s okay. They all know that with the support and love for each other, the rain can actually be soothing.


End file.
